Camilla: This is a disclaimer
Jordan: Just so the author doesn't get sued
Camilla: Then we wouldn't be able to do this
Jordan: Let's get on with it
8. A Sprouting Tower
Two things.
One: We made it out of the cave.
Two: We didn't reach Violet city before the sun rose.
We exited the cave, all of us exhausted.
Camilla looked like she would collapse, she came out of the cave looking wide awake for about two seconds before she felt exhaustion drape over her.
Jasmine was struggling to keep her eyes open, yawning as she walked out into the night.
Brock was the only one of us who didn't look completely tired, he moved a bit slower, but other than that he seemed fine.
I dreaded to know how I looked to them.
I got my answer a few seconds later.
'Jordan, you look like a zombie.' Camilla observed.
If I wasn't so tired I would have made a remark, but I could feel sleep taking over me. Maybe I should ask if we could sleep now.
'Can we camp for the night?' Jasmine asked. 'Who knows how far we are from Violet City, it could be another days trek.' She continued.
She had a point, none of us had travelled to Violet city before, it could be ages away.
'I second that.' Camilla said. ' I'm tired, I think I need to sleep.'
Today had been a hectic day, who knew how tomorrow would be, maybe we could calm down for a bit, but we might make it to Violet city tomorrow and I could take on the gym leader.
I was eager to gain my first badge, I just hoped I would be pumped for it.
I was normally always doubting myself before a battle, but I never had a gym battle in Johto before, so maybe I was more confident when I battled here, but anyone would be nervous before an official battle, right?
'Jordan, can you help me set up the tent?' Brock asked me taking me out of my thoughts.
I was too busy thinking about my gym battle I hadn't noticed that Brock had started putting up our tent.
If I helped him put it up I could get to sleep quicker, I also knew that Brock wouldn't be travelling with me forever. It would be great to learn from him besides, when he left I hoped I would be able to do things myself. I was 12 years old, it was best I learn now so I could do things without him guiding me every step of the way.
I went to help Brock set up the tent, we got it all set up within ten minutes.
I was struggling to keep my eyes open as I rolled out my sleeping bag. I slipped into the sleeping back and almost immediately fell asleep.
I was standing in the Pokemon centre, pacing back and forth across the lobby.
I could feel my friends eyes on me, they were talking to me, but their voices didn't reach my ears, I was too angry with myself.
How could I do this?
The Pokemon was injured when we found it, I shouldn't have let it battle for me. Sure I won, but it wasn't worth the price of what had happened to the Pokemon.
What would everyone else I knew think?
I was a terrible person, not just a terrible Pokemon trainer, but a terrible person overall.
I wasn't as bad as the people that caught the Pokemon, but I was still a bad person.
Maybe I should ask the gym leader to take back my badge, maybe I should have a rematch with him to earn my badge properly, I didn't want to earn any of my badges because I had an advantage, I wanted to use the two Pokémon I had caught to start off with, not the Pokemon I recently acquired.
The nurse came out and I instantly rushed to her, I didn't hear her voice or mine, but we must have conversed because she led me to where the Pokemon was.
The Pokemon was in an intensive care room, it was inside some sort of dome that had tubes connected to it.
It looked almost as bad as when we found it in the wild, but this time it had nothing to cover its skin, it was pink all over, I saw there were so many cuts and bruises that we hadn't seen or been able to treat, the Pokemon looked so weak and helpless. What kind of person was I?
The Pokemon looked like it could die any second, and it was all my fault. I wished there was something I could do about it.
The nurse left me and I put a hand on the windows of the room praying that this Pokemon would get better.
I woke up, the light streaming into the tent.
How late was it? Had I slept through the whole morning?
I realised Brock was not in his sleeping bag.
I got out of mine and rushed to get dressed and exit the tent.
I saw Brock a few feet away he was standing next to a table with a pot over a stove, he was chopping up vegetables before putting them in the pot.
He stirred the pot for a few seconds.
His eyes landed on me.
'I was about to come and get you, you have been asleep for a while.' He told me.
Was I the last one up?
'Are the girls up?' I asked.
'Not yet, but I think you'd like lunch before them, you know, also having a second helping.' Brock replied.
Lunch?
I looked to the sky and realised Brock was right it was almost midday, I had slept almost the whole morning.
'How long have you been up?' I asked.
'Only about half an hour.' Brock replied.
That made me feel a bit better.
'We didn't get to sleep till quite late last night, I don't think that we would have had much sleep if we woke up when the rest of the region did.' Brock continued.
'Hopefully we can reach Violet city today.' I said. I hoped we had enough time in the day until it got dark.
'I don't doubt it.' Brock said as if he knew something I didn't.
He pointed to the right of the tent, a few feet away were a set of stairs that looked like they were engraved into the ground and a few meters from that was a gate building.
That was the entrance to Violet city.
We had been this close to it the whole time.
It was best that we fell asleep in our tents, who knew where the Pokémon centre was in Violet city, it could be at the other side of the city.
There was no doubt we would reach Violet city today.
I went back into the tent and rolled up my sleeping bag. I put it back into my bag and started to take the tent apart.
I saw Brock look at me from my peripheral vision.
He had a look of surprise on his face, but he never took his eye off of his cooking.
As soon as I had managed to put the tent back in it's bag the girls had started to get up.
'Morning girls.' I greeted them as I finished zipping up the back.
'Morning.' Camilla chirped.
'Hi.' Jasmine said with a little less enthusiasm.
'Lunch is almost ready.' Brock told us.
As if on cue, my stomach rumbled.
I laughed inwardly hoping no-one else heard my stomach.
I let out my Pokemon as Brock placed three large bowls of Pokémon food on the ground.
Cyndaquil and Heracross happily walked over to eat the food.
The only Pokémon that wasn't let out was Camilla's Chikorita, but I'm sure Camilla would let it have food soon, she had to make sure that Chikorita wouldn't run away.
Brock poured us each a bowl of his stew.
It was lovely, I savoured the food, but I'm sure I would need seconds especially if my first Gym battle was in Violet city, I needed to keep up my strength for it.
I wondered what type the gym was, who the gym leader was if there was any challenge I would have to overcome before I could battle him, with every gym leader in Kanto-besides Giovanni-gave me a challenge that I had to overcome, it would be great if this Gym leader required the same sort of challenge.
Before I got my second serving I made sure that there was enough for everyone else, if they wanted another helping, the pot still looked like it had plenty even after I poured myself a second helping.
'Are you that hungry, Jordan ?' Camilla asked rhetorically.
'Just on the other side of that gate might possibly be my first gym battle in this region.' I said with enthusiasm.
I was looking forward to start my challenge in this region.
'You seem really ready and pumped up.' Jasmine acknowledged.
I was always either pumped up or doubting myself, but this was my first official battle since I had battled Bruno in the indigo league just over a year ago. The orange league was not officiated by the Pokémon league Chairman, but still hundreds of people attended as Drake had not been beaten in five years, until I beat him a month or so ago.
As soon as we finished the girls offered to wash up and Brock pointed them in the direction of a stream that wasn't far beyond the trees.
I started taking down the girls tent as soon as the girls were gone from view.
Halfway through Brock joined in to help me.
'Thanks.' I said.
'You shouldn't take on so much at once, Jordan.' He told me.
'I want to help.' I protested.
'And I'm glad you're taking more responsibility, but when you help for the first time you should use supervision, if you get it wrong then it could destroy the rest of your journey.' He told me.
'Did I take out tent down wrong?' I asked. I was worried I hadn't done it right.
'No, but there is an easier way to store it.' He told me. 'That's why I'm helping you out now.' He continued.
Brock showed me an easier way to put it away by folding the material to better fit it back into the bag and rolling the sticks into the material.
The girls came back a few minutes after we had put the tent into the bag.
Brock took the clean crockery from the girls and put them in his bag.
We returned our Pokémon and I took the bag that Brock and my tent was stored in.
'I want to lighten your load.' I replied.
Camilla carried the other one.
It wasn't that heavy to carry, not like I expected, and I could clip it to the bottom of my bag, so I wasn't always carrying two things.
Brock didn't protest.
I did heed Brock's words, I wanted to help, but he told me I should take it slow, at least taking something from him so he didn't have to carry as much was fine, right?
We reached the gate in less than a minute.
I wondered how Violet city would look, how big it was, were there any landmarks that were significant. Some towns and cities had places of interest, like Lavender town and Cinnabar island.
I wondered how this region would differ, we had nothing like that just yet.
We exited the other side of the gate and I saw this town was lovely, it felt a little dark, but a sort of historic dark.
The path was cross crossed cobblestone.
I saw the Pokémon centre was a few meters ahead on the right.
It looked exactly like any Pokémon centre, but the red was deeper and darker, it's colour added to the feel of this city.
So we could have made it all the way to Violet city and slept in the Pokémon centre, but I guess sleeping in our tents was good as we had not done that in a while.
I doubted Jasmine had done that before.
'So, Jasmine,' I started, 'have you ever camped out before?' I asked.
'Only when I was a little girl, but I don't remember the experience.' She replied.
'How was this experience?' Camilla asked.
'It wasn't as bad as I expected, but it didn't matter, I was too tired when we exited the cave.' Jasmine replied.
I understood, I was extremely tired too.
We entered the Pokémon centre.
I would need to rest my Pokémon before I took on the gym, make sure Cyndaquil and Heracross were at full health.
'Hello.' Nurse joy greeted us as we reached the counter. 'How may I help you?' She asked.
'Could you take our Pokémon please?' I asked.
She set out four trays, each with six round indents on them for Pokeball.
We each placed our Pokéball's on the trays and she put them on a table which was wheeled behind by Chansey.
We went to sit down while our Pokémon were being healed up.
'Jordan, what is your strategy for beating this city's gym leader?' Jasmine asked me.
'Do you have any idea what type they specialise in?' I asked her.
'No.' She replied. 'I don't know much about the gyms around this region. I don't think I'd be much help when it comes to what each gym specialise in.' She added.
'So, let me guess.' Camilla started.
'Yep.' I replied.
She knew exactly what I was going to say and I guessed Brock did too.
'I'm going to wing it.' I announced.
Jasmine looked at me, shock wasn't exactly the expression that was upon her face, more like mildly surprised.
She was getting used to my personality. I know that Brock and Rachel didn't need to get used to me, I surprised Brock when I battled him in his gym and Rachel and I had known each other for ages, as with Brock I also surprised Camilla in our first battle.
'That's not exactly a strategy, Jordan.' Jasmine pointed out.
'If I have no idea what type they use, it's the only option I have.' I replied.
Jasmine was about to protest, but she stopped herself for whatever reason.
The ding signalled that our Pokémon had been restored.
My strategic conversation was over, now we would head straight to the gym.
The gym wasn't as far away as I thought it was, it only took us a few minutes to come across it.
It looked like a regular gym.
It had a brown domed roof that was cut into three by two large orange beams that went to either side of the door a few meters before going up to the base of the dome and angling inwards before crossing across the top of the dome toward the back. On each side was two teal stripes that went under the orange beam.
One was on the floor and went the whole way round and the second was up to my waist and parallel to the first one.
Above the door was a teal plaque with the top half of a white Pokeball with a line going diagonally through it on the right, like the Pokeball was rolling to the left.
In front of the doors was a man with striking blue hair. It covered his right eye, his eyes-well the eye that was visible-was the same colour as his hair. He had really pale skin, it was almost white. He was wearing a blue martial arts shirt and shorts, it was a lighter blue than his hair. A white martial arts belt was tied around his waist. He had a short-sleeved sky blue jacket over the martial arts shirt, the bottom of the vest had a white line going around it. On either side of the front of the jacket were two large white circles. He had black shorts underneath his martial arts shorts. The white socks he was wearing were tucked into the black shorts. The shoes he had were black, they were toe caps. A black strap went from the toe cap to another strap, but this strap went around the top of the foot. The straps were connected with a red clip. On his forearms he had bands they were primarily black, but had a red stripe at his wrist and just before his elbow, where the bands ended.
He looked like he was waiting for us.
'Hello.' He greeted us. 'I believe you are to tackle the gym leader?' He asked.
'I am.' I said stepping forward.
'Perfect.' The guy said with enthusiasm. 'The gym leader requires you take on sprout tower before you enter his gym.'
'Sprout tower?' I asked.
'You see that large pagoda at the edge of the city?' The man asked pointing to the right of the gym but further across the city.
I saw a wooden beam pointing through the top of a black roof.
'That is sprout tower, it is a test of strength and willpower, the gym leader asks you to take it on before he deems you worthy.' This man said.
This gym leader seemed serious.
But it was a challenge and gym leaders could give a trainer any challenge to complete before they battled us.
If I wanted to take on the gym leader it seemed as if I had to take on sprout tower first.
'The gym leader asks that you make your way to the top of the tower and receive a scroll from the elder, then bring the scroll to him.' The man said.
'It shouldn't take that long, Jordan.' Camilla encourages.
'Of course.' Jasmine continued. 'We can..'
'I'm sorry.' The man said. 'But the gym leader requires only the challenger to enter sprout tower.'
I gave my friends a reassuring smile.
I wouldn't be gone long, all I had to do was recover a scroll.
'Easy peasy.' I said.
'Fantastic.' The man exclaimed with as much enthusiasm as the first time.
'Your friends can wait in the gym for you, the gym leader is eager and will wait for your return.' The man said.
'Good luck.' Camilla said giving me a hug.
'You'll do great.' Brock said patting me on the shoulder.
'Don't take too long.' Jasmine added.
I waited until the man had disappeared into the gym with my friends before I headed in the direction of-what was apparently-sprout tower.
I didn't have any difficulty in finding it, it was the largest structure in this city easily.
When I got closer I saw it was three stories high.
The floors were all brown and wooden, they also looked quite worn, like this building had stood here for countless generations. The roof of each floor was black, it overhung the previous floor.
The roof was also black and looked like it could have been a rectangular based pyramid, but I didn't know what it looked like on the inside.
There were two black wooden bridges to get to sprout tower. The first bridge led to a small island with a single black lamp on it.
The second bridge led to where the tower was.
I entered and what I saw was not what I had expected.
There were two large wooden statues stopping me from proceeding to the left or the right. The statues had a thick body with two leaf like arms and a huge bulbous head pointing outwards instead of up, like a regular plant. It had an open mouth where the flower came from, but there was no flower. It also had two small eyes, one on either side of the bulb head.
I saw there was a large beam in the middle of the tower, that must have been what was keeping it upright, it looked like it was swaying, but it may have looked that way because of what time I fell asleep this morning or late last night.
There were a few people down here, I would have talked to them, but I had a task at hand to complete. I could not afford to stop for chats.
I saw someone in a hooded grey robe standing at the foot of a ladder. His head was bowed. I didn't want to disturb him, he might have been praying.
I reached the ladder and proceeded to climb up it but he hadn't moved. I was thankful that I hadn't disturbed him.
I reached the second floor, this floor looked a little incomplete, like someone forgot to finish the flooring. The beams in the floor crisscrossed making diamond holes that were only a few inches deep.
I saw another hooded grey cloaked figure, they were holding a rope in their hand. He also had his head down.
Why did he have a rope though, was this challenge to quietly go past these hooded men without interrupting them?
I felt a little threatened by the rope.
Was he to tie me up if I disturbed him?
I would go past him just like I did with the one on the ground floor.
I slowly walked toward the hooded person, but before I was able to walk past them their head snapped up.
I couldn't see his face as it was still hidden in the shadows by the hood
'The tower sways, but we stand strong.' This person said.
It startled me and I stepped back a few feet. It was a male voice, now I knew the identity of this person.
'Go, Bellsprout.' He called.
A Pokémon that resembled a plant came out. It had a brown spindly body and legs, the feet looked like roots, it had leaves for arms which were slightly curled. Its head was yellow and bulbous and half the size of its body, it had two small black eyes on either side of its head and the mouth had pink lips in an "O" shape.
So I had to battle my way to collect the scroll, this was more challenging than I had previously predicted, but I was going to have a battle challenge, I agreed to the terms.
I took out my Pokedex to scan this Pokémon.
'Bellsprout, the flower Pokémon. Bellsprouts's long, thin body can bend in any direction, so it's good at dodging attacks. The liquid it spits is highly corrosive.' My Pokedex informed me. This was not a Pokedex entry I would have preferred.
Two downsides on my part.
Instead of complaining I sent out a Pokémon.
'Heracross, I choose you.'
Heracross came out and looked ready to fight. This was our first proper fight and I wanted Hercaross to trust me as best as it could and if I was right, this Pokémon was a grass which would be weak against my bug type, Heracross. I was going in with an advantage.
'Bellsprout, vine whip.' This guy said.
'Heracross, dodge and use struggle bug.' I said.
Bellsprout balanced on one leg and outstretched it's other leg and brought it down toward Heracross who jumped to the side just in time, the leg root came down upon the wooden floor.
Heracross jumped up and curled itself out before spreading its arms as wide as it could, green rays emanated from Heracross body toward the Bellsprout.
The man didn't say anything, but struggle bug was a move that I had not yet seen a Pokémon dodge. Although, apparently Bellsprout was good at dodging.
The struggle bug hit and Bellsprout fell.
That was all it took? How weak were these Bellsprout? I thought it would take at least a few hits, but no. It only took one attack and this person didn't even ask Bellsprout dodge, he just let the attack hit.
He returned his Bellsprout and I thought the battle was over, that was until he sent out a second Pokémon.
'Go Bellsprout!' He called.
He had two Bellsprout, what was different about this one? Was it stronger, faster, better at dodging attacks?
I decided to stay with Heracross, I knew Cyndaquil would be good at battling these Bellsprout too, but he was strong enough at the moment and I would definitely use him later if there were other trainers.
'Bellsprout, use vine whip.'
Did Bellsprout know any other move, or was it vine whip, it is the only move that has been used and this person has had two Bellsprout so far, I knew they probably wouldn't have a full moveset, but maybe two or three moves.
I didn't tell Heracross to dodge this time, especially if vine whip was the only move that Bellsprout knew.
Bellsprout brought the vine down on Heracross, Heracross didn't even flinch or show any sign of the move hurting him at all.
'Use struggle bug.' I said.
Heracross used the move like before, and like before the same outcome occurred.
Was this person losing on purpose or was he just not a good trainer?
He returned his second Bellsprout, but I didn't let up. I'm sure that because he wasn't any good he would have more Pokémon.
'Go Bellsprout.'
Three? He had three Bellsprout? Did he worship this Pokémon or something?
I would keep Heracross, but I didn't want this battle to turn out like the others, I didn't like repetition.
'Heracross, use struggle bug.' I said before this person could issue a vine whip.
This person didn't say anything, I didn't know if it was shock or because he didn't want to, or if there was any other reason, but whatever it was their Bellsprout got hit with the struggle bug and didn't get back up.
They returned their Bellsprout and as soon as he did he took down his hood.
This guy had grey hair on his back and sides, but on the top he was bald.
I returned my Heracross, so this battle was over.
'I am Sage Nico.' He said, so the guys in these robes were sages. 'Please descend to the next floor.' He continued.
Descend? I had to go down to proceed? I just came up from downstairs.
I turned the corner past him and sure enough there was a ladder that led downstairs. I didn't see it when I was on the ground floor.
I descended downstairs and I was in a corridor, there must have been two rooms downstairs and I don't remember seeing a door.
I walked to the end of the corridor and saw a sage round the corner, the sage was guarding a ladder that led back upstairs.
I guessed I would have to battle this sage, just like I had to battle sage Nico, I was prepared, but I think I would switch it up and use Cyndaquil instead this time around.
I walked in front of him and he spoke.
'Each sway makes us stronger.'
This was stranger than what sage Nico said.
I didn't understand his lines and now this sage confused me even more.
'Go, Bellsprout.'
Of course he'd have a Bellsprout.
It made sense why this was called sprout tower now, because all these sages used Bellsprout.
'Cyndaquil, I choose you.'
Cyndaquil looked like it was ready to battle. I hadn't battled with it since we went up against the Heracross swarm together.
This would be good for us both, now he could have a worthy battle.
'Use vine whip.'
Again? Seriously, did these Bellsprout not know any other moves? Anything else but a vine whip.
'Ember.' I said.
Cyndaquil shot out an ember toward Bellsprout which halted its attack, but also hit it and the Bellsprout fell.
That was the first one, I think that the only reason why I was KO-ing these Pokémon was because of the type advantage.
I didn't recall Cyndaquil, I'm sure there were other Pokémon that he had, it was most likely a Bellsprout.
He recalled his first Pokémon.
'Bellsprout, Go.' He said.
I would get sick of Bellsprout soon, they were so easy to predict now.
'Ember.' I said before the sage could issue an attack.'
Ember flew toward the Bellsprout and it fell in defeat.
Two down and now I probably had one or two more to go.
Maybe this sage would be harder than sage Nico was, not worse.
He recalled his second Bellsprout.
'Bellsprout, Go!' He called sending out his third Bellsprout.
I didn't want to waste time with this one, so I attacked as soon as possible.
'Cyndaquil, use ember.'
'Dodge and use vine whip.' The sage called.
Bellsprout managed to avoid Cyndaquil's ember.
I was surprised by this, but I couldn't let the surprise be my downfall, so I got over the surprise as quickly as possible.
I had no time to get Cyndaquil to dodge the vine whip, but it did minimal damage.
'Use ember.' I said.
'Dodge, Bellsprout.'
This time however, Bellsprout was too slow and it got hit by the ember.
It struggled to get up, eventually it's leaf arms gave way and I knew Cyndaquil had triumphed.
He called back his Bellsprout, I waited to see if he had a fourth, but he started to take down his hood, so I returned Cyndaquil.
'I am sage Chow.' This sage told me.
Maybe the sages were told to tell me their names if I defeated them.
I walked toward the ladder that led up to the second floor.
I wondered where the sage on the next floor would be and if he would also give me a riddle, something that I wouldn't understand.
I reached the top of the floor, but didn't see a sage.
There was a corner I had to turn, maybe my third sage would be around that.
I turned the corner, there was another sage, but this one was standing in front of the ladder, so the only way to access it, would be to beat him.
There was a statue, like the ones on the bottom floor on the opposite side of the ladder to where I was.
I wondered when I battled this sage, would he have more than one Bellsprout. Would he have three, like the previous two sages had? Or would he have less or more?
It would be quicker to walk up to him and find out.
I walked in front of him and he spoke his own riddle.
'It stands for hundreds of years.' He said.
This confused me as much as sage Chow did, but it sounded as simple as sage Nico's phrase.
'Bellsprout, let's go.' He called.
A Bellsprout came out, but it looked slightly different to the previous ones, like it was stronger somehow.
Jordan: Since Camilla is not here at the moment I will be signing off without her, I still have a while to go through sprout tower, but I'll see you all next time.
Chapter nine: The Bells Toll with a Hoot